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Please note: Older issues may contain information that is now out of date. How To Subscribe
and Unsubscribe is at the end of this note. Mailing List Trouble? See http://www.langa.com/help.htm Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000 !) An easier-to
read formatted HTML version of this newsletter is available on line at The LangaList 2000-11-30 A Free Email
Newsletter from Fred
Langa --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
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A few months ago, we discussed
"Ad-Aware," a free and excellent spyware-remover from LavaSoft.
Ad-Aware scans your entire system, looking for "phone-home" components
that sometimes are installed on the sly by various applications; they're also
very commonly included as part of "adware" or "bannerware"
apps. Many times, these
"phone-home" apps are fairly benign; they just steal a little of your
bandwidth and CPU cycles as they invisibly update their local databases with
fresh ads and whatnot from their home server. But the problem is, you can't know
exactly what these apps do. Any app that silently communicates with a distant
server or site also has the potential to send that site or server whatever
information it can collect about you or your system. You may not want this
information shared; in the worst case, you may not even know the app is talking
about you behind your back. It's this potential for silent
snooping that earned this class of software the nickname "spyware." The first versions of Ad-Aware were
quick-and-dirty stand-alone programs that ran great. Ad-Aware quickly and
efficiently detected spyware lurking on your system, and then---if you told it
to--- would delete the spyware, removing it completely. But because Ad-Aware was
an all-in-one app, LavaSoft had to release an entirely new version of the
software each time they modified Ad-Aware to handle new spyware. With the new version, Ad-Aware has
matured and morphed. Ad-Aware now has an "engine" that does the
sniffing and a separate small, updatable database of "spyware
definitions" that it looks for. (In this regard, Ad-Aware is now structured
like many anti-virus tools.) Now, when LavaSoft wants to update Ad-Aware to
handle new spyware, it only needs to update the definition file instead of the
whole app. Nice! There's much more, too: The app now
has a full install/uninstall front end; it can monitor for spyware in real-time,
it can auto-start with Windows, it can accept command-line parameters etc. etc.
etc. And it's still free! It's now at version 4.01. If you're
running an older version--- or if you're not running any version--- grab
yourself a fresh copy at http://www.lavasoft.de/aaw/index.html
. Highly recommended! Click to
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Sounds simple, doesn't it? It's one
of those things that you can ignore almost forever--- until you unexpectedly and
urgently need to do it. Then, suddenly, what seemed like a simple task may turn
out to be considerably more complicated. The concept *is* simple: Most
standard Print dialogs in Windows include a small checkbox called "Print to
file." If you check this (say, when your printer is offline or if you're
working on a laptop and are away from a printer), Windows will send to a file
exactly the same stream of data that it would have sent to the printer. The file
is given a PRN extension, such as "MyReport.Prn." In theory, when you later have
access to a printer, you send the PRN file to that printer, and it prints out. But trouble is, in practice, Windows
has no clue what to do with a PRN file, on its own. If you click on the file,
you'll simply get the "Open With?" dialog. So what do you do? Well, you can "copy" a PRN
file to the printer port (usually LPT1 or LPT2, so called from the old days when
printers were called "line printers"). One very simple way to do this
is to drop to DOS or open a DOS box and type copy filename.prn lpt1 /b Of course, you replace
"filename" with the actual name of the file. The "/b" tells
the system you're processing a "binary" (machine language) file, not
text. This works best with simple files
that don't use any or many of modern printers' advanced capabilities. In fact,
it works best with plain text files. One easy way to create truly
plain-vanilla text files is to add a special fake printer to your system by
using Control Panel's "Add Printer" dialog, and lying: Tell Windows
you want to install a new local printer, and select "Generic/Text
Only" from the offered choices. When you're ready to print, select the
Generic printer, and then click the "Print to file" box:
Although you'll lose access to your printer's advanced capabilities, you'll
create a simplified PRN file that may be easier to print out later than a more
complex PRN file. And there are other tricks of
increasing complexity (desktop shortcuts, etc.), to get PRN files to print. But
they may not work well, or at all: For example, many color and complex printers
require their Windows drivers to be loaded and running at print time; any
attempt to direct-print may fail. Some printers are designed actually to use the
PC's own CPU to control the live printing process; trying a "back
door" approach to printing will fail. Likewise, networked or shared
printers add an additional layer of complexity that may thwart your attempts to
print a PRN file. Believe me, I know: I recently
needed to print color output from an application on a machine I was testing.
It's a long story, but I needed to do it via a PRN file. But nothing I did---
and I tried every trick I could think of or find in a lengthy online
search--- *nothing* let me correctly print the PRN file. At best, my
printer would print gibberish; at worst, it'd hiccup once and die. Eventually, I found Gallicrow
Software's "Imprint," a small trialware Windows app (you can try it
free for 30 days) that lets you easily and controllably print binary and
PostScript PRN files from within Windows. After downloading Imprint, I had the
PRN file rolling out of the printer in less than a minute. (See http://www.gallicrow.co.uk/
) Imprint is $30 if you decide to keep it. I wish I'd found it sooner--- I would
have saved myself a couple of very frustrating hours. BTW, along the way, in trying to get
the *%$E%$# PRN files to print, I found "the Ultimate Windows 95 Spool32
FAQ on the Internet" at http://www.starkreality.com/~callen/spool32.htm
. There's a ton of good (free) information there, should you ever need it. Click to
email this item to a friend As an American, I'm deeply
embarrassed at the shambles of the recent Presidential election. The USA sends
monitors around the world to help emerging democracies conduct full, fair
voting--- and yet our own system stumbled badly in trying to achieve just that
here within our own borders. Sigh. Electronic voting--- sometimes
called e-Lection---may be an answer in that it holds promise for a fast, fair,
and crystal-clear voting process. But it's not without its own
drawbacks. For example, all methods of voting are susceptible to malfeasance to
one degree or another, but traditional voting is not particularly vulnerable to
unofficial meddling. In contrast, electronic or on-line voting will invite the
undesirable attentions of every pimply-faced, pizza-breathed sociopathic cracker
who wants to make a name for himself. Imagine an election where the computers
announce that, say, Beavis or Cornholio has bested the real candidates. Some LangaList readers in the US and
around the world already have first-hand experience with electronic voting. You
can read their experiences and opinions--- and add you own! Check it out ( http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20001117S0010
) then join in the discussion: If you're in one of the areas that has
experimented with electronic voting, what were your personal experiences? If
electronic voting were offered, would you use it? What would it take to reassure
you that a computerized or electronic vote was secure and tamper-proof? Please share your thoughts. Join the
discussion in the Byte Newsgroups either by clicking to http://www.byte.com/nntp/monitor
or by using your newsreader to news.cmpnet.com, and from there to
cmpnet.byte.monitor. Join in! Click to
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I'm ambivalent about HTML email. I
like its look and web-like ease of operation; but I dislike the fact that HTML
mail can conceal malicious scripts or other components. Plus, it's not terribly
efficient: For example, I dissected a recent
HTML mail I got from a reader. I copied the actual text in the body of the
letter, and saved that as a plain-vanilla text file. It was 426 bytes long--- a
brief note. I then extracted the HTML version of
the exact same text--- just the body of the note, omitting any headers ad
such--- and it was 7,674 bytes long. That's almost 20 times larger! And for all
that, the only meaningful visual difference between the two versions was that
the HTML version used "Comic Sans" as a font while the plain text was
in Times Roman. Although it's probably not an issue
for individual emails, if you send the same email to large numbers of people,
you might want to look at the output before you send it. You probably can do
your recipients a favor by using just a little hand-editing to help clean up the
code-bloat that many mail applications produce. HTML *can* be small and
efficient--- there's absolutely no need for a 20x bloat factor just to send a
simple text message. I'm paying special attention to this
because I'll soon be offering an HTML version of the LangaList by email. Many
readers have asked for this; some because they prefer the easier-to-read
appearance of HTML mail; others because their current email reader cannot
correctly parse the textual URLs (links) embedded in the newsletter. But when I
offer an HTML version, I guarantee you it *won't* suffer a 20x bloat factor!
<g> Other readers have asked for still
other versions beside HTML. For example, some readers would prefer an easily
skimmable "bulletin" or "digest" newsletter format that
would be (in essence) a series of headlines, very brief descriptions, and
links to the full text. With this type of newsletter, you can blast through it
in a minute, but still have access to the full version of any item that caught
your eye. All these new versions (and more)
are in the works! The version you're now reading isn't going away, and in fact
will remain *completely unchanged.* But for readers who want something
different, I'll soon be able to offer you lots more, including: It's all coming soon. Stay tuned! Click to
email this item to a friend In the last issue ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-11-27.htm#4
) I told you about a new free beta personal firewall from Tiny Software ( http://www.tinysoftware.com/pwall.php
). Many of you tried it, and although
more had good things to say than not, I did hear from readers on both sides. For
example: I have been using Tiny
Software's personal firewall for about a week now and it works flawlessly on my
WinME system. I had trouble with zonealarm not wanting to open and causing
lock-ups, so I thought I would give it a try. Once you set up all your protocols
the firewall runs virtually unnoticed in the background and uses very little
system resources. I think it is at least as good as zonealarm. I tested the
security of the firewall at various sites and it renders your computer in
stealth very nicely. ---Gene. Following your article I
downloaded Tiny Firewall, but after 4 hours use I uninstalled it. It interferes
too much with a smooth operation of my computer. The directions are, as in many
American programs directed at the expert computer user and not at the simple
Home User like myself. There are instructions, but again these do not have
sufficient explanation in al language for the home user.---P. Eveleens The Tiny Firewall is still in beta,
so we'll have to see what the final version is like. Meanwhile, ZoneAlarm
remains a proven and free (for personal use) alternative at http://www.zonealarm.com Click to
email this item to a friend I'm about to choose another monthly
winner of a copy of "Poor Richard's E-Mail Publishing: Creating
Newsletters, Bulletins, Discussion Groups and Other Powerful Communications
Tools." This book has been described as "An excellent, straightforward
manual on email publishing, banner ads, driving traffic and especially
ethics." To have a shot at winning, just use
the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may
find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and
you just may win a book! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 The more times you make a
recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning! Or, if you'd like to try to win
$10,000(!), try this link (full details also available here): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Either way, thank you, and good
luck! Click to
email this item to a friend "CyberNotes" is an online
newsletter published every two weeks by the National Infrastructure Protection
Center (NIPC). It provides high-level summary information on cyber
vulnerabilities, hacker exploits and trends, virus information, and more. It's
aimed at security and information system professionals, and so there's abundant
jargon and not a lot of expository text. As such, it's not novice-friendly, but
if you're comfortable swimming in geeky waters, it's a very good source of
information on online security "best practices." It's free. But the downsides are
that it's not delivered by email (you have to go to the site to read it), and
the actual issues are in Acrobat (PDF) format: http://www.nipc.gov/cybernotes/cybernotes.htm Click to
email this item to a friend Do you have a home page or website?
(It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
, and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have
"Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and
are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please
see http://www.langa.com/link.txt
) View A Randomly-Chosen
Reader Site From Among All Listed Manually Browse All
Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At The Unofficial Royal
Westminster Regiment Photo Gallery Of Rural
Southern US Winchester Bay (Oregon)
Merchants Association and Events Spike's and Jamie's Recipe
Collection Vicky Burt's Rexall
Showcase Page Reader WebCam e-Tax Service A "Seasoned
Citizen's" Page La page trouve tout! Rob's Page Click to
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Writing from the University of
Michigan's IT department, reader James A. Alarie responded to a "Just
For Grins" item that appeared a few weeks ago (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-11-06.htm
): 10) Just For Grins I live just a few
miles from the New Hampshire's southern border with Maine; here's a
"Maine Temperature Conversion Chart" which relates temperatures in
Fahrenheit to various human behaviors... In reply to that item, James wrote: If you take US-23 to
Michigan exit 54, drive through Pinkney, and follow the signs, you'll wind up in
Hell. In the winter of 1980, the earthen dam in Hell sprung a leak and flooded
the town. And then the temperature dropped to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Hell froze
over. The newsman on WCRZ radio
(107.9 FM) announced the leak, flood, and temperature one right after the other,
but failed to reach the obvious conclusion. The Detroit newspaper carried a
single paragraph about it buried deep inside. Everybody who has promised
to do something "when Hell freezes over" is still safe because it
happened and nobody took notice! Click to
email this item to a friend --- ( Your
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See you next issue! Best, Please recommend
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(The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the
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the advertisers: Langa Consulting LLC will never knowingly accept
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of or for the products, companies or services mentioned in the ads. Disclaimer:
(Please see full disclaimer here: http://www.langa.com/legal.htm.)
Abbreviated version: The tips and other information given in the newsletter are
researched and are believed to be accurate, but we cannot and do not guarantee
that all the information here will work on all systems, for all users, all the
time. All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind.
Neither Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for
any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application
of any information presented here. This newsletter is a free
service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 2000 Langa Consulting LLC. All
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